Harry's, the Warby Parker of the shaving industry, aims to disrupt the Big Razor companies with technology, "value-oriented" prices, and style. One problem: no razor is really worth more than a buck.

Harry's, you see, does not aim to be the dirt-cheap Dollar General of shaving; it aims to be the Warby Parker of shaving. It does not aim to simply cut the price of razors to the bare minimum; it aims to be a cooler brand of razor than Gillette, at a similar price. Dealbook says that "The company calls itself value-oriented, with a shaving set of razor,
two replacement blades and a tube of cream for $15, compared with
roughly $12 for a Gillette Fusion razor with two blade heads."

Have you, the savvy consumer, picked up on the two important flaws in this new Business Model That Will Disrupt Everything? I will enumerate them forthwith:

1) $15 is actually not less than $12.

2) That doesn't even matter, because you shouldn't be paying more than a buck for a razor anyhow.

Expensive razors are much like expensive watches, in that they are fetish objects that correlate very strongly (Disclaimer: but not completely, so please stop writing that email) with assholeness. In fact, expensive razors are an even more egregious item to waste money on, because they do not even offer up the typical benefits of conspicuous consumption. Nobody knows you shave with a whalebone-handled straight razor except for you. (And the people you tell, thereby revealing yourself as an asshole).

You can buy ten perfectly good disposable razors for five bucks. At a price of fifty cents each, these razors will do a perfectly good job of removing hair from your face. If you buy a $35 Harry's "Engraved Winston" razor instead, you will have paid 70 times more for an improvement in shaving closeness that will be measured in the millionths of an inch.

You will also have to explain to your girlfriend why you felt it necessary to purchase a razor with your initials engraved in the handle. And there is no adequate answer to that question.

No matter what that men's magazine tells you, neither expensive watch nor expensive razor nor expensive shoes will Make You a Real Man. A real man knows the value of things.